The experiments were conducted in compound channels with vegetated floodplains for investigating the influence of vegetation types on the characteristics of secondary flows. In terms of the streamwise and transverse velocities and the depth-averaged velocity, the secondary flow coefficient, M , is proposed, with good physical meanings, and it may characterize the rotational direction and the intensity of the secondary currents. The experimental results show that, for the cases without vegetation and with grass, the rotational directions of the secondary flows are all anticlockwise while for the cases with shrubs, they are all changed to the clockwise direction in the whole cross-section. However, when trees are planted, the secondary flows rotate in the anticlockwise direction in the main channel and in the clockwise direction on the floodplain. In addition, for all cases, the intensities of the secondary currents on the floodplain are stronger than those in the main channel. The experiments were conducted in compound channels with vegetated floodplains for investigating the influence of vegetation types on the characteristics of secondary flows. In terms of the streamwise and transverse velocities and the depth-averaged velocity, the secondary flow coefficient, M, is proposed, with good physical meanings, and it may characterize the rotational direction and the intensity of the secondary currents. The experimental results show that, for the cases without vegetation and with grass, the rotational directions of the secondary flows are all anticlockwise while for the cases with shrubs , they are all changed to the clockwise direction in the whole cross-section. However, when trees are planted, the secondary flows in the anticlockwise direction in the main channel and in the clockwise direction on the floodplain. , the intensities of the secondary currents on the floodplain are stronger than those in the main channel.